


Briar Thorns

by PaintedYertle



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Closeted Character, F/F, Implied Sexual Content, Lesbians!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-02
Updated: 2016-06-02
Packaged: 2018-07-11 13:16:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7053283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaintedYertle/pseuds/PaintedYertle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Juleka is thirteen when Rose improves her life for the better. Not only is this a solid reminder of how good it is to be loved, but even better, she deserves to be. </p><p>Rose is thirteen when she first notices that Juleka exists. She is not certain if they've been in class together before, but once they are seated next to one another, some noticeable traits of hers digs up long forgotten memories of other lonely girls she's known.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Briar Thorns

            Rose is five years old, and she wants to be a princess. Those around her tell her it’s something she can’t be, but she’s committed to this career goal, even more so than the other girls. On her first day of school she has to be convinced to not wear her plastic tiara in class. But Rose still wears the dresses.

            While Rose is the most dedicated princess, the other girls still gather together during recess to act out the same game. The jungle gym is the castle, the slide is the tower, and the rocky horses have names. There are few rules set in place, one of them being the “no boys aloud” law most girl games concede to. On one hand this rule is sound to Rose (the boys didn’t want to play anyway) but on another she cannot imagine any princess story without a prince involved. And yet every day the girls find a way to do so without effort. One day they’re running a pebble-paid charity to save the worms from the rain that wrecked their homes. Another they are teaching each other to braid hair.

            It’s a lesson Rose does not expect to learn at school, that being trapped in a tower isn’t the worst punishment when someone is in it with you.

            But there is one girl in Rose’s class who won’t play their game, and it’s the same reason the swing set is taken territory. Every day the swings are seized by a girl with a Spongebob backpack, usurping the same spot until her place is common knowledge. Rose considers it sad that the backpack girl won’t play princess with them, since in her opinion, she’s the prettiest girl here. And as everyone knows, being beautiful is the first requirement for princess royalty (queens are entirely different). Rose wants to grow her hair long and beautiful like that, but for now her parents keep it short, and anything else would be difficult to handle. She isn’t ready to be subjected to judgments.

            Though due to the lack of participation in the game, the girl is left all alone at her swing. The boys don’t talk to her either, for reasons Rose can only guess are cooties. Rose wonders why any girl would choose to not be a princess, and what can be the matter with their game in those bright eyes of this other girl. Perhaps all she needs is a friend to set her on the right path!

            Rose is a firm believer in the policy of treating others how you want to be treated, so her first strategy of approaching this potential friendship are giving complements. One recess Rose runs past this girl and simply calls out “I like your hair”!. The girl merely stares at the ground without words, until Rose runs too far to see her anymore. That’s how it starts. Dropping a seed. The more Rose does so, she notices more and more things about her classmate that she deems pretty. Her knee-high socks. Her skirt. Her skin color. Her backpack. More things to compliment on.

            The girl has to take notice by now, but still won’t play the game.

            A day comes after school when Rose’s parents seem to be late, and most of the princesses have gone home. The second swing beside the girl with the familiar backpack is empty. Rose can play her own game but instead she sits beside the girl on the swing and gives a little smile.

            “You’re weird. Leave me alone.” The girl says, then begins to swing again. A feeling grows in Rose’s chest, one that until now had only been described. She quite understand but does not care, and it’s what causes her to snatch her hand in midair. Her feet halt in the ground, causing a cloud of dust. They stare at one another for a moment Rose plants a kiss on the girl’s cheek.

            By this point the memory starts to become vague for Rose. Someone, she doesn’t recall who, yanks her away. It might be her parents, or her teacher, someone who would punish her for what she did. Someone who can scold her hard enough to make her cry. Rose has never been in trouble before. She has always tried to hard to be on her best behavior, and that fact makes her cry harder. That, and she doesn’t know what she did wrong, and neither her parents or teachers will tell her.

            Whatever the case, the girls are separated. But no one stops her from playing princess with her friends, and that’s the important thing. There is less and less of this memory every year, until it is so feint it might as well not have happened to her, becoming forgotten along with the rest of her petty tantrums from that age. Rose did something she isn’t allowed to do, and she knows better than to do it again.

 

* * *

 

            Juleka is seven years old when she looks in the mirror and realizes she’ll never be pretty enough. No one has ever said this to her face, thank goodness, but she assumes it’s what everyone else knows. She’s comparing her face to the women on the cover of the magazines her mom keeps on the sink counter. Her pictures are being taken for school tomorrow, and her face will never match that type of beautiful. Round where she should be sharp and vice versa, and unless she does something about her face, then someone might finally say what they’re really thinking to it. But the ladies in the magazines have also taught her that plastic surgery is even more ugly.

            The pictures are permanent. She knows she isn’t ugly, but not lovely in the eyes of everyone who looks at her pictures. Like usual her family will give a forced smile and blame the photographer instead of her. What Juleka feels are not hurt feelings, merely disappointment in herself. Group photos are worse. One would think so many faces would make hers stand out a little more, but it instead does the opposite and covers hers completely.

            A lot of the girls in Juleka’s class make themselves pretty for boys. At her age the only thing Juleka has done for the boys is school them on her TMNT info. Her family tells her that one day she won’t find boys so icky, and for now she’s too picky for her tastes to be expanded. But thus far not even the boys in her cartoons interest her. Juleka still loves April O’Neil, the Powerpuff Girls, Harley Quinn (her biggest inspiration), Lois Lane, Starfire. The difference between her and them, other than age, was that most of them had boyfriends. Why can’t they hug and love her like a friend instead?

            Maybe a real smile is all she needs. Juleka uses a hairbrush to move her long bangs out of her face. She brushes the parting this way and that, wanting to get it in the way she would like, until she smoothed all of it over her face.

            Juleka opens the mirror and stretches on her stepping stool for the makeup. She knows how to paint, but just not her face, and that takes practice. Her hand just grabs at the air as but it’s just too far from her grasp. That’s how she always feels, just out of reach. Instead she manages to grab a pair of nail scissors. She almost wants to cut her hair, but decides she doesn’t want to, so she doesn’t have to.

 

* * *

           

            Rose is nine when she learns some bad words. These mean and harmful names are said to her by some boys from school. As the children around her grow by the year, they confuse growing with maturing, and think they don’t need to keep the rules of respect basic human decency. When Rose asks her parents what these words mean and why they were bad, they tell her to stop kidding around, since she’s too old to not know.

            So that leaves her to find the meanings on her own. Usually the words are said with a tone of derision or disgust, and associate it with any sort of failure or ridiculous thing. Or if anyone says it to her it refers to the way she dressed or the girls she hangs out with. So Rose decides she doesn’t want to be associated with these words anymore to avoid being hurt.

            Over time when she figures out the true meanings, Rose begins to feel pity for those who have no choice but to be within the barring of those words and definitions. And it’s in the same fashion she feels when giving money to charity. Such a shame for those who find themselves in unfortunate situations that has nothing to do with her.

 

* * *

 

            Juleka is eleven when she’s invited to her first sleepover. The girl hosting it is from school but they don’t know each other well. The number of invites matching the girl students in class seemed a mandatory choice from the girl’s parents. Juleka’s family suggested she go, since that way she can make more friends. They added “every young girl needs a sleepover” to their persuasion.

            The host’s house is one of the bigger ones in the area, and though Juleka’s home is close by, she feels the fear and anxiety from not being in her own little room. She already feels like a square peg aimed at a skeeball machine. The other girls wear nightgowns and colorful brand pajamas, while Juleka has a glow-in-the-dark Jack Skellington t-shirt and plaid shorts. Juleka’s cool with pink every once in a while, but not usually.

            The girls acknowledge or talk to her occasionally, but are more occupied with the boardgames they choose to play. It’s _Mystery Date,_ so eventually they get on the topic their pre-teen love life.

            “I mean, he kisses me in the rain, _Notebook_ style,” reveals one of the girls, “and the next day I assume we’re dating, but when I call him my boyfriend at school you know what he says to me? ‘Who are you?’. Geez, immature can you get?”

            “Ouch.” says another girl, “Who was your first kiss, Juleka?”

            Juleka jumps. She pushes her hair back behind her ear, which always falls right over her face at the wrong time. Her bangs are still growing out. Usually when she talks to people she is bad at emoting, and when she talks to a group more than one thought would try to escape at once.

            “I-I, um,” says Juleka, “Uh, I don’t really have a boyfriend right now. Exactly.”

            “Yeah, we can see that, but you’ve been kissed, right?” Juleka looks away and twiddles her fingers, not wanting to lie but wanting to avoid a ‘no’. “Oh my god!”

            Suddenly she’s gained all of the attention.

            “I would have thought boys who were _like_ you would have _liked you_.” At first Juleka’s mind tries to identify the boys she means. Juleka had a growth spurt this year. Maybe tall boys. She has long hair over her eyes and wears black. Maybe goth boys. Ew, goth boys.

            “Um, I guess they’re picky. I dunno.” says Juleka, rubbing her arm.

            “Well, at least you haven’t been _betrayed_.” says the Notebook girl, with a tad too much passion.

            “Why don’t you have your first kiss right now?”

            The girl who asks is similar to the others, hair in a ponytail and an adorable animal on her pajamas. These ones had koalas covering her pants. She bats her eyes at Juleka in a way that reminds her of the vanilla rabbit from Bambi and she isn’t certain how much is a joke.

            “What?” Juleka asks, pulling away. This reaction makes the rest of the girls giggle.

            “Have a practice kiss with me,” says koala girl, “So you can be ready for the boys,” She scooches closer to Juleka, knocking over a few of the game pieces in the process, and slaps a hand over hers.

            “That’s weird…” says Juleka, though her voice came out more breathy than usual. By now so many of the other girls are looking on with such amused expressions.

            “I kissed girls all the time before my first _real_ kiss.” says koala girl, gesturing to the party host, “Isn’t that right?”

            The girls “ooooooh” in disbelief. The former center of the party rolls her eyes. “Sure. Of _course_ we did.”

            Juleka pulls her hand away from the weight on top of it. Her gaze returns to the fallen pieces on the _Mystery Date._ She wants to go back to playing, even if she has no chance of winning. And she’s still curious about which personality card they would find behind the plastic door on center of the board. But by now no other girl is interested in going back to what they were doing before.

            But the more Juleka crawls back the further koala girl moves forward into her space. “Don’t you want to know what it feels like to be kissed?” she asks.

            “Um…” When Juleka imagined being kissed on the lips, it would be the climax some sort of ultimate happiness. Something to be built up to. But there is nothing wrong with the way the girl looks, and had the longer Juleka stares, the more aspects of her that she likes looking at. And she has a scent, perhaps from wearing perfume or lotion for someone so young. The intoxications sunk in to Juleka’s mind more than her obnoxiousness.

            The moment Juleka allows herself to notice the scent is the moment the other girl dives in. When their lips touch out of all the thoughts rapidly bouncing in her head was distracted by her hair falling from behind her ear again and caught between their lips. All of the girls are screaming. Just before the other girl pulls away, Juleka’s mouth nudges forward to catch back that scent that was more than chapstick. When they return koala girl’s hands grips the hair on the back of Juleka’s scalp. Just when Juleka comes close to closing her eyes and imagining that fantasy that had been described all her life until now, this girl spits into her mouth.

            “Ack! Pfft!” Juleka cries. The other girls make noises akin to watching something scandalous on a reality show. Juleka wipes her mouth and tongue on her shirt.

            “Wow, liked that a little _too_ much, didn’t ya?” says a girl in the group.

            Juleka’s face heats up from embarrassment and a number of other things.

            “Good for a first try, but you kiss like a fish on land.” says koala girl, “ You won’t move unless someone makes you. Maybe it will be different when you kiss for real."

            “Hey, lay off her,” says the host, walking between Juleka and koala girl, “Who isn’t desperate when they’re single?” She picks up the pieces from the board game and throws them back in the box, since no one is playing anymore.

            Later, when they leave to watch a romantic comedy, Juleka wanders off to the bathroom. It goes unnoticed, buried under the squeals from the guy/girl interactions in the movie. It felt no different from the magazines covers stacked beside the sink advertising some celebrity infidelity.

            Juleka’s running on disgust and hatred, but even more so that she enjoyed at least some of what transpired. She brushed her lips with her fingers, feeling a different texture, somehow.

 

* * *

 

            Rose is thirteen when she first notices that Juleka exists. She is not certain if they have been in class together before, but once they are seated next to one another, a few traits of hers dig up long forgotten memories of other lonely girls she’s known. Rose is unable to imagine being so alone and silent. By now her circle of friends has grown significantly, but she isn’t opposed to adding more.

            Juleka’s appearance is a little grungy and rough around the edges, with parts of her hair dyed violet and an outfit consisting of black overalls over striped leggings with long sweater sleeves over her palms. As Juleka scribbles skulls on the back of her notebook Rose can see her nails have small crosses painted on them, right beside Rose’s rainbow arm of sillybandz. That craftsmanship shows Rose that there’s always room to improve and all Juleka needs is a makeover.

            After class Rose is in a car going away from school Juleka is on the steps out front becoming noticeable even from far away. So tall and slender and somber, self-consciously checking her makeup on the compact mirror attached to her glove. Once she passed by, Rose rolled down the window and called out Juleka’s name.

            Rose witnessed Juleka’s head turn back, her long hair passing over her shoulder to reveal both of her eyes. It caught Rose off guard, not considering that nothing needed to be changed, and turned back in her seat.

            From then on Rose drops compliments to raise the self esteem of the girl beside her. _Love your outfit! Love your hair! Love your nails!_ Love…etc. And perhaps this will give her the courage to speak. Chick flicks and magazines have prepared her for moments like these. While someone will have to fight Rose for her princess role, she's generous enough to be the fairy godmother for someone who needs it

            It went on until Rose gathers at the mall with friends, and Juleka ghosts her way over to them. She stands there, starting to speak, but moving her lips as though her thoughts had difficulty reaching her mouth. All the while Rose waits patiently.

            “I-uh-Imean, you don’t- _we_ don’t know each other, but you have an open seat, so, um, I wanted to sit down. With you? If you were okay with it.”

            Rose grins, seeing the potential in Juleka’s companionship. “Of course you can!” she said, “Have a free seat!”

            Juleka’s eyes dart around as if someone will jump up and attack her. But Rose is kind, and won't befriend anyone who isn't.

  

* * *

 

           Juleka is thirteen when Rose improves her life for the better. Not only is this a solid reminder of how good it is to be loved, but even better, she deserves to be. At the start Juleka asks herself if Rose is just being kind to her because she happened to be an angel in human skin who pitied every soul alive, but that idea was put to rest once they spent time together.

            All the while, she holds herself back from texting too fast or checking in too often to prevent from being clingy or showing off how alone she really is. But at times, there’s a part of Juleka that wants that spindly blonde hair and good fragrance all to herself. Rose always comes back without fail.

            Soon Rose’s friends becomes Juleka’s friends. Being invited to sleepovers makes her hesitant at first, but she soon learns that girls like Myléne, Alya, Alix, and Marinette are very different from the one who spit in her mouth and laughed.

            Then one weekend Rose invites Juleka to go shopping. Together. On their own. Juleka can’t imagine why, since Rose is _pink_ and _girlly_ and _frills_ while Juleka was all ebonies and ripped stockings and fishnet sleeves. But it happens.

            Juleka is standing outside a dressing room when Rose calls

            “Juleka, can you do me a favor and zip up my dress?”

            She suddenly stops asking herself if her shirt is too see-though without an undershirt and turns to the stall door. Rose’s bare feet can bee seen in the space beneath the door.

            “Are you alright with that?” Juleka asks. Rose giggles.

            “Juleka, don’t stress, we’re both girls aren’t we?” That’s when Juleka steps closer to the door, opening it to see Rose standing there in a flowery dress with an open back. Rose pulls her hair back, since it’s legnth has grown past the zipper. Stepping closer to zip it up, closer to her back and neck, that’s where Rose’s perfume is the strongest. As she zips the dress up all the way, she notices Rose’s bra has adorable cartoon monkeys printed on them.

            Once Juleka steps away Rose poses to admire herself in the mirror. “I like it, but not my style. Gonna try on the next one.”

            So Juleka walks out and waited outside to give some privacy. When Rose emerges again she’s wearing a new dress, a bright pink one with frills at the bottom. This one had no zipper but angel wings printed on the back.

            “What do you think?” Rose asked.

            Juleka swallowed. This girl is going to kill her emotions. “It suits you.”

            Rose giggles at Juleka’s shyness and hugs her. Rose hugs a lot. Touches her shoulder unconsciously. She’s such a touchy-huggy person, which Juleka decides must be what two girls in a close friendship must do.

            When they hang out together Juleka finally finds that minor thorn in Rose, and that’s her obsession with fairy tales. As Juleka grew up her interests shifted to the grittier original Grimm’s brothers or Hans Christian Anderson, but with Rose it was strictly animated material. Juleka doesn’t mind watching them with her, even the cheap direct-to-DVD ones with bad animation. All of those thorny middle parts was just the slog through to a better end. For her it’s worth it to watch Rose squeal at every kiss with humans in different shapes and different colored fireworks in the background.

            That’s Rose’s goal. Some girl’s ambitions revolve around good grades or meeting a career goal in order to be happy, Rose’s is to find as close to a prince as she could find. She yearns after it like some unsatisfied need. Whenever Juleka suggests the unlikelihood of it, Rose’s expression deadens, just daring her watch her do it or try to stop her. It’s a little scary.

            As a joke, Juleka sometimes researches the changes from the original text to the screen, to which Rose plugs her ears in a cries _lalalalalalala._ That is, until she finds the truth behind _The Little Mermaid._ And she has read and heard about the original ending where the mermaid loses her prince and disappears into bubbles but she did not know why the author would write such a thing until she looked it up. And as Rose’s head unconsciously falls on Juleka’s shoulder while dazing on the sunset and soft palettes on the TV, Juleka sinks down and decides to say nothing.

 

* * *

 

            Rose is fourteen when she’s judging her appearance in the mirror. Her hair has gotten long and irritating. When she applies mascara that isn’t hers a dab becomes stuck to her light strands.

            “Juleka?” she calls out, since that’s whose house it is.

            “Yeah?” Juleka says on the other side of the door.

            “Do you think I would look good with my hair cut short?” Rose only stares at herself as she moves her hair out of her eyes and tries to wash out the mascara. She searches in Juleka’s cabinets for something but that’s all that’s here are lip gloss and foundation that doesn’t match her skin tone. She should remember to not to forget her make-up by now, since she sleeps over at Juleka’s so often.

            “You’re hair’s already short?”

            “Yeah, but like, pixie-cut short.” Maybe these minor things are why Rose has yet to land a boyfriend. But she’s sure she will soon. And perhaps he’ll have a guy friend to share with her remaining single lady friends.

            “Um, I’m not sure.” says Juleka, “Whatever’s good with you.”

            “I dunno,” says Rose, “I just don’t want to end up looking like some kind of lesbian, y’know?” There was no answer from the other end. “Juleka?”

            “I think you look fine no matter what.” says Juleka, her voice soft.

            “Yeah, but you’re my best friend so of course you’d say that. Other people might say something different.”

            Rose can hear the creak of Juleka leaning on the other side of the door.

            “I’ll wait outside for you. Are you going to be a while?”

            “Maybe. I don’t know. Just wait up.”

            As her friend leaves house to silence her fingers try to rub the mark away, but it only leaves a stain.

 

* * *

 

            Juleka is fifteen when she’s alone at home on a Saturday night. Rose is on a date with a boy. Her phone screen was staring back at her face, filled with encouraging texts she had sent to Rose, ones that went unanswered.

            The boy is wealthy and well-known, as are a number of people Juleka knows in this city and in her life lately, and Rose is lucky to have him. He’s nice and smartly dressed. All the while she remains herself.

            Juleka marathoned her favorite childhood shows as a distraction. When she wants to talk to someone online to talk to someone about it, it only leads to escapades on messageboards and answering trivia to prove she was a “true fan”. She’s getting fed up with needing credentials for who she is.

            The arguments made her more upset. Paragraphs of rants on why they didn’t like her character pairings. There wasn’t a problem with all of her heroes having boyfriends, but it left no slot for Juleka to fill. It seemed like everything she ever loved was something she wasn’t supposed to have.

            Juleka just imagines every thorn to ever exist within Rose expanding into a wall beyond her. With nothing sharp enough to combat it wishing more than anything that she was stronger than to run away from one prick. What can she do when the person in question isn’t asking for help? So she slams down her laptop and goes to bed early and angry. At least Rose had achieved true happiness.

 

* * *

 

           Rose is fifteen, and she has just committed a sin. It makes her body feel good, and she feels very guilty about that. That’s how it would describe her own flower in bloom.

            She’s lying in her bed, alone, after being stood up from a date from her boyfriend. And that’s fine, all is forgiven, but she would have expected him to notify her first. Ali is considerate, thoughtful, and literally a prince. Well, in the feasible modern day at least. He’s all she’s ever aimed for in life. She enjoys holding his hand, his adorable turtle bracelet brushing on her wrist while they walk through the stone streets of the city. But this isn’t the first time she’s been stood up by him. Tomorrow Ali will make it up to his princess.

            But tonight Rose is close to angry, and she doesn’t enjoy it. Negative emotions stain you. She has seen and experienced it time and time again with the villains threatening the city on a weekly basis. What gain was there from choosing to feel that way? But her mind returns again and again to the matter at hand with no person to complain to. She wants to call Juleka to vent, but it’s too late at night. Besides, after all of those years of expressing her dream relationship how awkward would it be to reveal the flaws? Perhaps Juleka will truly understand once she finds her true love.

            So Rose goes to bed and did what she could to make herself feel better. Yet as all of this negativity builds up, Rose finds it easier and less awkward to express her troubles to her girl friends than any of her close relationships like her parents or boyfriend. That must be one more girl thing, Rose thought, since girls tend to be more touchy-feely. It must be normal for her to hold Juleka’s hand on a couch than with Ali at a dinner table. And she thinks _why can’t anyone but her know how beautiful Juleka is,_ until she bursts. It's the biggest good rush she's ever felt. Every once of that negativity runs out of her. Rose is almost in shock.

            Rose is on her back, in her bed, in the rippling afterglow thinking of a girl. Tears rise in her eyes. It's best to bury those thoughts away for the better.

**Author's Note:**

> The wind was screaming outside my window while I was writing this. Not even mother nature wants Juleka and Rose to be canon.
> 
> Also this marks my third fandom where there's an important Rose character. (ML, SU, and HS). It gets confusing when writing fics on them.


End file.
